White iPhone 4 Is 0.2mm Thicker Than Its Black Alternative, And Here’s Why

With the recent release of the white iPhone 4, we had hoped we could finally, officially put the whole story to bed – you can only write so many words on a different color of a phone that’s been out nearly a year after all. But alas, it seems this particular phone just won’t go away and the latest story is of the odd difference in thickness between the white and black iPhone 4s.

As the above photo from 9to5Mac shows, the white iPhone 4 is actually 200 microns (0.2mm) thicker than its brother, presumable due to the different class and/or paint used in order to make the white handset a possibility.

1. Apple has introduced a fix for the iPhone 4’s antennae woes. The iPhone 4 has a hardware flaw that causes the phone to lose reception when held a certain way. At face value, it doesn’t look like the phone carries any kind of design differences.

2. The white paint for the new iPhone 4 required a different game plan. The white iPhone’s case did not insulate the its camera’s flash and leaked light when taking photos, according to reports. White iPhone 4 parts also caused some issues with the phone’s proximity sensor, which disables the screen when talking on the phone so owners don’t accidentally hang up, according to Apple’s Steve Wozniak.

3. The white iPhone needed additional protection from external light sources. Any light leaking into the phone could disrupt the iPhone 4’s screen and make the image less clear, which would be a sore point for Apple because it touts its “retina display” as one of the best smartphone displays in the business.

4. Apple is just trolling tech geeks everywhere to try to generate some additional publicity for the white iPhone 4 — because even a 0.2 millimeter difference is enough to generate news buzz when it comes to an Apple product.